FAQ for
Monster House (2006) More at IMDbPro »

PRO:

Kenan directs with a zingy sense of kids, comedy, fright, and visual perspective. But the movie also shimmers and shakes in all its motion-capture animated beauty with the slyly deep sensibilities of executive producer Robert Zemeckis. -- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Kenan never loses sight of the wonderment that children (and adults) experience when the inanimate becomes animate. Anthropomorphism is basic to the art of animation. So is a good story, and Kenan has that, too. -- Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

The most imaginative and delightful computer-animated movie of recent years outside of the Pixar brand, Monster House is a Halloween ghost story by way of monster-movie adventure. -- Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Easily the best computer-animated feature to come from Hollywood in a long while, Monster House is also one of the weirdest. A creepy-crawly, freak-show Halloween yarn. -- Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Unpretentious, smartly written and a lot of fun. -- A.O. Scott, New York Times

Has a return-to-innocence sweetness that recalls some of the work of another of its executive producers - Steven Spielberg. Kids may grow up too fast today to embrace the film's familiar message of the virtues of an unhurried adolescence, but it's nice to be reminded of the possibility. -- Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times

Director Gil Kenan has a feel for dizzying "camera" work, and the screenplay combines witty gags with a sweet, albeit familiar, suggestion that kids shouldn't be in any great hurry to be anything but kids. -- Keith Phipps, The Onion

The house itself - which walks down the street in one impressive scene - is memorably voiced by Kathleen Turner. -- Lou Lumenick, New York Post

A captivating piece of visual wizardry. The house, which eventually frees itself from its moorings and chases after our trio of tweener heroes, is a genuine original. -- Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

Monster House was designed as a family movie and a scary movie. It may scare children, but it won't terrify them. So it's no scarier than it should be. -- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Ultimately, what happens with the house is not only entertaining, but a marvel of what animation can accomplish in this day and age. -- Peter Debruge, Miami Herald

Constant shock cuts and souped-up music and sound effects will keep small fry in a state of moderate petrification, while the trio of tweeny leads plus attitude-redolent cohorts will make teens feel welcome. -- Todd McCarthy, Variety

The movie might be scary for small kids - but good scary, with goose-bump-inducing frames, witty repartee, and three resourceful kid protagonists. -- David Edelstein, New York Magazine



MIXED:

The three neighborhood kids who venture inside this toothy trap are wittily conceived (as are other characters, like a goth babysitter), but though the overall conception suggests Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle," the frenetic pacing seems as American as an apple pie in your face. -- Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader

While Monster House is in no way groundbreaking, it's an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes, and is suitable for all but the youngest children. -- James Berardinelli, Reelviews

Surprisingly enough, puberty-stricken J.D. and Chowder actually sound like real teenagers, but the cartoony look will probably alienate real-life kids that age, and the man-eating house might be downright terrifying to younger kids. -- Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide

The voice work is exceptional, with a special nod to Maggie Gyllenhaal as a toxic-tongued baby sitter and Jason Lee as her raunchy-to-the-point-of-depraved boyfriend. Kenan is a talent to watch, even in a flick that doesn't know when to quit. -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Monster House benefits from strong graphic design and lovely lighting, but the script is nothing to write home about. -- Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

The coolest thing about Monster House is that Kathleen Turner's face was actually motion-captured to create the house's movements, but actual human beings on-screen might have ratcheted up the tension, of which there is none. -- Luke Y. Thompson, Village Voice



CON:

What's missing is what Pixar never fails to provide: The kind of storytelling heart that is inseparable from imagination. -- Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun

I was a little disappointed by the cop-out ending, in which debut director Gil Kenan gives up the film's frightening elements and comforts the audience with comedy and superficial emotion. -- Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer

Equal parts Ray Bradbury and rickety carnival spook show, this animated tale of a carnivorous, haunted house and the band of neighborhood kids who decide to put it out of commission feels maddeningly unfinished. -- Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

A grisly, often cynical piece of work whose joyless, aggressive spirit is made even less appealing by its soulless visual style. -- Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Sources include: christookey.com | metacritic.com